James Bond is back, showing The Bourne Legacy how a motorbike chase should be done and, arguably, better than ever. Skyfall is definitely a Bondgasm - it's 'classic Bond meets new Bond' and misery guts Daniel Craig seems to have a lot more fun as 007 in his third outing than in any of his others. With M by his side, he embarks on a surprisingly personal and visually jizz-worthy adventure set mostly right here in the UK. Get set for shots of Big Ben, tube crashes and an awful lot of the word 'bloody'.
While pushing Bond in new directions, Skyfall gives little nods all over the place to the franchise's impressive history. This is quite clearly still the 'new era' (Casino Royale onwards) but it recognises how it came to be, much to the satisfaction of the audience. We get an unforgettable villain (who can remember who the bad guy was in Quantum of Solace?) and a shedload of that classic trumpety theme music whenever 007 does anything the other 00's would never have thought of. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace opted for dark and gritty and while this still is, it has a sprinkling of Ghost Protocol's vibe thrown in for good measure and it remembers that much like Haribo, kids and grown ups love it so - it remembers to enjoy itself.
It's not very complicated either, which is peculiar for a Bond movie. This was obviously a conscious effort since what happened the last time round, but the straightforwardness of everything pays off because it means that whenever there's a dramatic turn of events and we realise that - hang on, this isn't a fun bit and actually it's all suddenly quite serious - hell, it's a stressful scenario. There are plenty of points where you're not completely sure if everyone involved is going to make it out the other end in one piece. It takes its time, too. It's not in so much of a rush to do massive stunts and blow shit up. Instead, we get enough build up to make the real big bangs nearer the end feel like very big bangs indeed.
Comparisons have been made to Batman, but it's strongly advised you ignore these and give anyone who says something like it a slap. Nolan's Batman films are about as much fun as constipation. Any time a movie is a tad darker than that which preceded it these comparisons seem to be made. Truth is, the folks behind Mr Bond have finally realised that realism is far more effective than an onslaught of cheesy one liners and, as our new Q points out, exploding pens. The key is to not go too far in the other direction either, encouraging your audience to slit their wrists. The only similarity Skyfall bears to Batman is that, much like the Robin-related 'reveal' at the very end, Skyfall does something just as nifty. Things are coming together now, you see. Daniel Craig's first few were fresh out of the reboot machine and were setting up what exactly Bond went through that made him such a pissed off individual. Skyfall's tying things together, giving us a new cast and, if you really put your mind to it, you can almost imagine how Daniel Craig's Bond could end up as Pierce Brosnan's. But, hopefully, we'll never see invisible cars ever again.
As things begin to wrap themselves up towards the end you may find yourself asking why Bond is never just damn well shot whenever his enemies get the chance, but this is a nasty habit all action movies have adopted. Villains that spend an entire movie trying to kill a person never seem to want to actually kill the person when they have the opportunity delivered to them on a silver platter. It's slightly more acceptable when said villain is a complete nutter who enjoys showing off and luckily that's exactly what Javier Bardem delivers in the form of Silva - and really rather well, too. So all is forgiven on that front.
It's a sodding long one but the time flies by and, you won't even realise while you're watching, but at some point after having seen Skyfall you'll perhaps sit bolt upright in bed and realise you should thank god for the lack of any violently shaking cameras during the action sequences. This can only ramp up the film's already deservedly high score. We'll let the CGI crocodiles slide.
 |
| "Please hold, your call is important to us..." |
It's not very complicated either, which is peculiar for a Bond movie. This was obviously a conscious effort since what happened the last time round, but the straightforwardness of everything pays off because it means that whenever there's a dramatic turn of events and we realise that - hang on, this isn't a fun bit and actually it's all suddenly quite serious - hell, it's a stressful scenario. There are plenty of points where you're not completely sure if everyone involved is going to make it out the other end in one piece. It takes its time, too. It's not in so much of a rush to do massive stunts and blow shit up. Instead, we get enough build up to make the real big bangs nearer the end feel like very big bangs indeed.
Comparisons have been made to Batman, but it's strongly advised you ignore these and give anyone who says something like it a slap. Nolan's Batman films are about as much fun as constipation. Any time a movie is a tad darker than that which preceded it these comparisons seem to be made. Truth is, the folks behind Mr Bond have finally realised that realism is far more effective than an onslaught of cheesy one liners and, as our new Q points out, exploding pens. The key is to not go too far in the other direction either, encouraging your audience to slit their wrists. The only similarity Skyfall bears to Batman is that, much like the Robin-related 'reveal' at the very end, Skyfall does something just as nifty. Things are coming together now, you see. Daniel Craig's first few were fresh out of the reboot machine and were setting up what exactly Bond went through that made him such a pissed off individual. Skyfall's tying things together, giving us a new cast and, if you really put your mind to it, you can almost imagine how Daniel Craig's Bond could end up as Pierce Brosnan's. But, hopefully, we'll never see invisible cars ever again.
 |
| The new Q stands for 'Cute'. |
It's a sodding long one but the time flies by and, you won't even realise while you're watching, but at some point after having seen Skyfall you'll perhaps sit bolt upright in bed and realise you should thank god for the lack of any violently shaking cameras during the action sequences. This can only ramp up the film's already deservedly high score. We'll let the CGI crocodiles slide.
★★★★★
Now, to celebrate HCTV's first five-star review, why not boom your speakers up to the loudest they'll go and have a listen to this, Jedward's version of Adele's Skyfall. Sorry.
Roo